BIG EYES

by Oriana Atkinson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 30, 1949

A refreshingly funny -- in a wry way -- regional novel offers the original picture of a girl who is the town's pariah and who, in spite of calumny, gossip and her own wilfulness, bests the worst of her detractors. For orphan Eysie early knows the way in which she can win -- over her schoolmates, over adults, over local disdain,- and even when she pulls a boner, is able to offset any ostracism in her ability to retrieve her luck. Against the small Catskill community's love of scandal she carries on her affairs -- with a married man, a summer boarder, a boy about to be jilted -- gets along with summer residents and learns the value of antiques and historic houses, makes a go of a tavern to take care of the night life, and waits for the man she wants to marry. To get herself out of an impasse -- her ""bare dance"" before a group of drunken townsmen -- she marries half-wit Floyd (with a hunting license), establishes herself in his run-down museum of a home, takes on her adored Bo's bastard son -- and is ready to light out when Bo claims her.... Not a story for permanent value, but one which -- granting its amorality -- has some roots in the section from which it derives.

Pub Date: Sept. 30, 1949

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Appleton-Century-Crofts

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1949

Categories: FICTION